Leashes are commonly used for preventing dogs from running too far away from a person. Typically, the leash connects to a harness or a collar around the neck of the dog, and has some sort of handle or other sort of adaptation so that a person can hold the leash to keep the dog within a certain distance. The collar is permanently on the dog, and the leash is utilized when it is desired to limit the distance of the dog, such as when walking in a park or other outside area.
Leashes can be short or long. Longer leashes can be bulky or otherwise unwieldy to carry and can become tangled on the person's legs or other objects as the dog moves. Some leashes are configured to have a variable length. Variable length leashes typically have a mechanism for varying the length, such as a spring-loaded coil mechanism for winding up the leash in a spool. This mechanism can make the leash relatively more expensive to manufacture, bulky or prone to mechanical failure. The material of the leash may also be compromised to facilitate spooling or other action taken to vary the length. This may compromise the strength of the leash or cause it to be made out of a hard or expensive material.